Setting Up An Apisto Tank

[duncs]

Oooh but there are so many species you could consider..

Gonna paste a post I erroneously made in another thread, might be more appropriate here Unfortunately, quite a few of them are still acidic water fishes

• Blue Rams
• Bolivian Rams
• Apistogramma species - agassizii and cacatuoides are quite common but there are hundreds of species available such as panduro, macmasteri, viejita.. all stunners
• Nanochromis species.. transvestitus are gorgeous; females prettier than males (hence the species name)
• Nannacara anomala aka The Golden Dwarf Cichlid
• A pair of juvenile Keyhole cichlids
• Pelvicachromis taeniatus.. less common than their genus-mates pulcher (the Krib) and sometimes just that little bit more special.. very easily bred, too
• Dicrossus species.. my favourite of the lot - filamentosis are the more brightly coloured species, with maculatus being less bright but equally gorgeous, in a more subtle way
• Lamprologus ocellatus also known as the shell-dweller. These guys are from the rift lakes and thrive in a pH up to 9. In a three foot tank you'd be able to set up a stunning community for them. They're not as immediately colourful or bright, but they're beautiful in a very subtle way.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

[*]Nannacara anomala aka The Golden Dwarf Cichlid

we've some juvi's of these at the moment, stunning little fish and seem quite happy in our water which has a pH around 7-7.2

Still babies but they had their first attempt at spawning a couple of weeks back which i was chuffed about!

 

[duncs]

Indeed, gorgeous little fish they are. They're not so colourful when they're juvi but the full adults, kept in aged, mature water.. wow. Lovely

 

[tenohfive]

Theres some beautiful fish there, but only the Lamprologus ocellatus is listed up to my pH range. Saying that, my Blue Ram's are surviving and seem pretty happy (granted, happier immediately after water changes) in a pH of 8.2 - I really don't want to continue like that.

At the moment, it would seem that either peat or an RO unit is the way home. I know sod all about peat, does it go in the filter or something?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

Indeed, gorgeous little fish they are. They're not so colourful when they're juvi but the full adults, kept in aged, mature water.. wow. Lovely

aye their in a 60gal planted tank at the moment, cos it's fairly heavily planted you just get glimpses at them, so when they had their first stab at spawning 'big daddy' as we call him came out in all his mating colours that lovely shade of blue I was just like 'Oh my good god how sexy has my fish got!!!'

look up the muli's they're definatley good for your pH

 

[duncs]

Yeah mate you can get some peat, put it in a filter net or a tight/stocking (ooh-er Mrs ) and put it with your filter media - really easy if you've got an external filter.

Saying that though, I never found it to be much use It might work better for you considering how high your pH is though. Either way, it's so cheap and easy, it's definitely worth a go. Please bear in mind it WILL stain your water. Your fishes will prefer it, but you may not.

Most captive bred fishes will tolerate a wide range of pH - up to 8, maybe a little bit more. Wild caught fishes however won't, without extreme acclimitisation, and either type of fish will prefer the pH found where they occur naturally; i.e. more acidic.

Neolamprologus multifasciatus as Miss Wiggle mentioned. Stunning little fish too, also a shelldweller.

 

[tenohfive]

Ah, found them:

http/www.seriouslyfish.com/profile.php?g...atus&id=546

Not bad looking fish.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

the thing with the shellies is not so much their looks but their behaviour, they are very livley fascinating little fish to watch. you certainly won't get bored with them, but they don't quite have the flair and colours of something like apisto's

 

[duncs]

Indeed

 

[tenohfive]

It'd be nice to have some sort of a mix between interesting and colourful fish. I'm looking to get something like an EX700 filter, and run it with some platies or danio's for a month or two before I add anything else, then move them back into my community tank after I start adding cichlids.

I'll add peat to the filter and see if it does any good, test thoroughly and see what I can add. If I'll definately be looking at some of those shell dwellers, and if I can get the pH to 7 or thereabouts I'll consider adding some apisto's.

Thanks for the advice.